People here, in gun rags, and generally all over have a love affair with the phrase "Bump in the Night"

I am curious, how many times annually have you walked through your house after having thought you were down for the night to investigate the bump in the night with a firearm in hand?

Just a rough estimate.

Mine is maybe once a year. I have dogs who sleep on the bed so if they are all there and I am still hearing it, I go check it out. If I hear noise and one of the dogs is missing, I still check it out, but I am more prepared to be yelling at a dog than brandishing a firearm.

Also about once a year. Also have a big German Shepherd outside and have a fenced I'n yard for the dog about an acre and a locked gate, I'n the country. But theres still things go on here just like a city but not as much but there's drugs every where and people have to get there fix one way or another. And I prefer the 40 cal myself.

I have a pretty good alarm system, so not too concerned about noises in the night. However, I guess once or twice a year I end up checking something out.

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Every time. It gets plenty dark in the country. And I'm borderline paranoid about all the methheads and thieves that think we're easy targets. Hearing just about every night on the news that somebody was burglarized or home invasion makes it a good idea to check every noise.

The Ruger P85 and Maglight I keep in the nightstand drawer is the first thing I grab.

About twice a year it seems, this summer I actually found the side door wide open, walked down my basement stairs 100% sure I would be facing a person that night. House was empty, but it freaked me out enough that I purchased a mossy 500. (previously I had been using a mosin nagant m44 carbine for house clearing, but a bolt gun just doesn't seem adequate now that I live in the city, not to mention who knows how far that 7.62 bullet will go!)

Lol yeah it probably would. At the time it was between that and a scoped hunting rifle. The city I live in has had an 11 person massacre, a shootout Between cops and bank robbers; and random drive by's just a few blocks north of my house.
Now a "bump in the night" is something I take seriously! I would get a CCW if I wasn't a poor college student with a wife and kid to support.

I live out in the country along the Guadalupe River in South Texas. I would run out of toes and fingers counting the A) Drunks floating the river who decide my barn is a good place to "camp".....B) illegals crossing my land heading to who knows where C) Thief's looking for tools/tractors/calf's.

We have house dogs. These are dogs who sit in Mama's lap. We have deadly pasture/barn dogs who I am scared of. Canopener is one of these ferocious dogs. He is half wolf half Husky somebody dropped out here when he was a puppy. Lots of people dump dogs/cats out in the country. His name is derived from him getting up in the bed of the truck and opening beer with his teeth.
Canopener is ferociously territorial and allows only me around the barn or in the pasture.

Anyway....when the Canopener alarm goes off he has somebody or something. I go out with a AK....usually I will find a racoon in the barn in the feed.....but often I find some terrified drunk or Mexican illegal in the feed loft with a big wet spot in their britches.

On two occasions they thought it would be a good idea to charge at me. It wasn't a good idea.

So yes I get up and check when I hear something.

Sorry to ramble here....I must say this though. I have one blinding 200'ish lumen light on the rail of my AK. Having a blinding light is the best tool to disable a threat. They lose their vision and freeze when I hit it. They have no idea what you have brought with you. While they are frozen I assure them I am armed and will kill them (in English and Spanish).

I have no desire to ever shoot anybody. When I was left with no choice it was a really lousy experience. Emotionally, spiritually and legally.

Even when you are absolutely in the right and within all the laws. You will go to the Grand Jury. You will have to hire lawyers. Your home and land will be invaded by law enforcement. Most patting you on the back saying you were right....but nevertheless your home is a crime scene.

My bottom line is to respond with a weapon I know how to use....from there ,if challenged, I will do everything in my power to get the threat to run away then call the cops.

I would say about a twenty times a year. I CC in my house though. To many doors breaking down in this little city with meth heads wanting money... I started CCing in the home about year ago. We have heard to many bumps in the night before we are in bed.

About 10-15 times a year I would estimate. I live in the country and have livestock so I have to investigate noises or disturbances. Most "bumps" are not going to be two legged, more likely 4 legged looking to make off with some eggs or chickens. I have indoor and outdoor dogs, and they often alert me of "dangerous" situations like the UPS guys is here or my wife is coming home from the grocery store.

My cat often alerts me at night more than the dogs do, nothing will freak you out more than late at night and you roll over and you see the cat frozen and staring off down the dark hallway intently.

Ironically, the only serious bump in the night that I have ever had happen, the dogs did nothing, my cows woke me up. I woke up at 3:30 am, couldn't figure out why. Then I heard the cows mooing incessantly. That set my spidey sense off so I jumped up, grabbed the Kimber off the night stand and peered out the window. I looked out and saw the farmers field across the road was on fire, not there was a fire, I mean it was ON FIRE, the whole frickin' thing! It was apocalyptic. Very surreal thing for a sleepy brain to comprehend.

It took me a second to notice that there was a truck sitting at the end of my driveway, about 100 yards away. By the time I threw some clothes on and grabbed the mag light, the truck had sped off. I ran down to the end of the driveway and saw two individuals walking along my road towards me. In the middle of the night, on a dark gravel, country road, with a raging wild fire mere yards away and they are out for a stroll...yeah right. I lit them up with the mag light as they approached and they stopped. One of them was holding his stomach and said "I really need to take a dump, can I use your bathroom?" That was probably the last thing I expected him to say, but the answer was easy. "NO!" Just then I saw flashing lights as a state trooper came tearing down the road. I decided he could handle these two clowns and when he pulled up I told him I was going back to my house to wake up the rest of my family in case the fire jumped the road and we needed to evacuate. He concurred, I told I didn't know who the two late night strollers were and about the truck that had disappeared and left him to deal with them as more emergency vehicles began arriving. Overall, a pretty exciting night!

Heard a crash by the front door (single story apartment, also only door) which woke both me and the fiancee up, grabbed my pistol and light out of the nightstand, stuck my tanto in my waistband, made a rather profane annunciation that I was armed and whoever was there had really picked the wrong house, and worked my way from the bedroom to the kitchen & door, about 25-30 feet or so.

What I found was the dog eating the turkey bones from dinner that night out of the trash can she had knocked over...guess next time I should investigate noises with a rolled up newspaper

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I live at the end of a cul de sac in suburbia. I have a labrador retriever that wouldn't bite anyone but he'll bark and wake me up. Unless I hear that bark that says he is scared I don't get up. Checking the the house with gun in hand is maybe a once a year thing for me.

I sure do feel for those live in places where this is a needed. We all cant live at my place, but you can make your place safer and harder for folks to just walk into and surprise you. Beats getting up at nite just to look around...

I have yet to be awakened by the proverbial "bump in the night" in the manner the OP described. But I did have a weird experience a while back.

I was home with my 22 year old daughter and we were on the couch watching TV. My wife was out of the house and not expected back for a while longer and my other daughter was at work.

So we're sitting there and all of a sudden there's a knock ("knock-knock-knock") that sounded exactly like someone had knocked on one of the widows at the back of the house or the side of the house in the living room where we were sitting. It sounded quite close, and we both looked at each other with a surprised look. Mind you, this was about 9:30 at night. Our house backs up to woods, and no one we know (or anyone, really) would or should ever come to the back of our house and knock on the window. Our first thought was maybe my nephew who lives nearby was out there (he cuts our grass and does other stuff for us), but we were pretty sure he was not.

Now I'm starting to think this could be someone up to no good, maybe trying to see if anybody is home. So I quickly retrieved my Glock 23 from its hiding place in my bedroom and started going around to doors and widows and peeking out to see if I could see anyone. I never did see anyone or any signs that someone had been out there.

After we were pretty sure nobody was outside our house, we tried having someone go out and knock on several windows to see if the sound was the same as what we heard. Oddly, the windows that were actually accessible did not make the same sound, but when I knocked on a window that is high up near the ceiling (and at a height of maybe 12 to 14 feet about the ground outside), it sounded just like what we heard.

I guess it will remain a mystery. I suppose it could have been a bird or something, but the weird thing is it wasn't just one knock or two knocks, but three evenly spaced knocks just the way a person would knock.

Maybe 3-4 X in 11 yrs in our current residence. This is a suburban environment, with a low crime rate.
However, in a prior nearby neighborhood (also a low crime rate area) our next door neighbor was stabbed to death in her home. Crime never solved. Afterward, while we lived there I usually checked all unusual sounds with a S&W model 13 or 12 ga.

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